August 2010 Grocery Challenge

SherlockFan85

Morning All,

Spend on Saturday in Mr A**a of £37.49 (big shop) on milk, bread, bagels, fruit, pepsi, meats, veg, lunch items, beer, loads more things i have forgotten, and ready meals for OH who is in police so needs them for late shifts at work.

[FYI - sorry i know this isn't grocery related - the Metro the other week stated that PCSOs only work until 8pm and the article was trying to imply that this makes them less of an asset to the Force. This is complete [B][COLOR=green]nonsense[/COLOR][/B] as my OH constantly works shifts until 10-11pm and has recurring shifts until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays!! It really upsets me when PSCOs are downtrodden by the media, when they work really hard too. the other week he was chasing a sex pest in the woods at 1am with only a notepad and pen for protection! And he's found several missing persons by himself.]

So anyway... spent humungous sums on take-out food over the weekend, even had chippies yesterday due to exhaustion - my OH accidently punched me in the jaw at 4.30am yesterday morning then talked in his sleep until i woke up at 6!!! :mad: And i was wearing my mouth retainer! Hence the need for junk food slob out.

Also had milk and bread only spend yesterday of £1.89. How did it all go in two days??

Off on holiday to Devon from Sat, so will only be buying non-perishable brekkie and snack foods only, as have already paid our way for meals out in advance as it's a family holiday. Paignton Zoo here we come :T

will update and create a sig total shortly.

rablovesroo

Dharma_Bunny

Morrisons spend yesterday was £27.44, including big box of washing powder so not bad.

A NSD today for sure, and should be a grocery NSD tomorrow. :j

notjustlaura

Happy 21st to DD2, suzybloo.

Kudos to DH for his hard and essential work, rablovesroo. Hope you have a fab holiday.

Mr S is delivering my shopping this evening and I'm *hoping* that will be me till the end of the week when I get paid and am, therefore, solvent again ...

highland_fling_2

Hello everyone,

Using left over potatoes and cabbage for dinner, will fry them and have some corned beef to use up as well. So a very lazy day cooking wise for me.
Will spend time reorganising freezer (again) and will meal plan for coming fortnight.
Bought two packs of Nouvelle nine toilet rolls yesterday at Co Op. (£4.99 BOGOF) If anyone else is interested.

Hope you all have a frugal day.

jayII

Not sure what we're having today, probably pasta with tomato and bean sauce.

Mr T is delivering tonight, and I need to go to Aldi to pick up fruit and veg, so will update my siggy later.

dazzle21

Hello, feel a tiny bit lost this month, as we have only just been paid so have been buying bits and pieces and not doing a proper shop.......will total up those receipts when i am feeling brave
Today i braved shopping in Mr S, which was horribly busy..but DS was good and really helpful (he's only 2 bless him), spent£29.69 and this included a couple of treats - i.e. box of matchmakers (though i am angry as i have just checked my receipt and these have gone through at £1.99 when they were shelf edged at 80p....'managers special' as they are short dated..so guess where i will be going later....)
Have meal planned for the week, and the only thing we may need is bread flour, otherwise that should do us...(fingers firmly crossed!)

wssla00

urchin wrote: »

Not a good shop - I went to Sainsbugs with a list and brought a load of stuff I didn't need. I made the mistake of going straight from work whilst I was hungry.

I spent £64 but £14 was on magazines as I'm a sucker for food magazines!

Me too Urchin! But I have now subscribed to my favourites so I get a good deal on them

This christmas I will ask for them for christmas presents!

Want2Bdebtfree_3

Spiggle wrote: »

Hi All, :wave:

I so agree with all the comments above on having veg (I don't have fruit this year ) straight from the garden. We've been eating our courgettes, green beans, dwarf french beans, mange tout, some pots, and baby carrots for some weeks now and it has made a huge difference in terms of what we've been buying and the flavour of our food. We have loads of tomatoes coming (all cherry types) but they're nowhere near ripe yet. We've a lot more potatoes to have too but giving them an extra week to get ready for our plates. Yum, yum! :drool:

Well today we made our first spends of the month at the greengrocer, butcher and su**rd*ug (£15.72 total added to sig) and I'm about to do an online shop which I will add to sig later. (I prefer to list the amount the day I order as if I went to the sm the money would be gone today anyway.) We now have a lovely piece of brisket slowly cooking away at the moment. Smells delish. That will feed us both for days to come and is such a reasonable (economically) and tasty piece of beef. We will have it with veg, yorkshire pud and gravy (for a couple of days), it will get used in sarnies, or get chunked up and thrown into a casserole. OH does a lovely crispy shredded beef with it too which if we wanted to we could turn into a lovely chinese style meal. Tender, tasty, versatile and cheap now thats my kind of meat!

I should say that we don't batch cook in the same way as many people on here because firstly we don't have a huge freezer and my capacity is limitless for eating the same thing (usually with little tweaks) for days on end. So OH may make a large bolognese, lasagne or just savoury mince and will tweak the way its served over a period of time until its gone.

The most important rule in our house is that no food gets wasted. May seem harsh to some but if GD1 (and her mother before her) wants a dessert or treat then she must eat all her food. No compromise.

A very dear friend came around yesterday and spent the day with me dejunking my wardrobes, cupboards and drawers. I was just so daunted by the quantity I couldn't attack it on my own. She was absolutely brilliant.:A I'm ashamed to report that I had 3 full black bags for our local charity, a medium to large bag for the textile bank and a whole black bag of coat hangers! :eek: My friend is convinced they get together and reproduce in the wardobes. :rotfl:

EDIT: I forgot to say that I've also got four choice pieces that I'm going to attempt to sell on eBay. Never sold on there before - unforunately I do know how to buy from it - so wish me luck.

I can't tell you how good it feels to be clear of all the stuff. Mostly they were clothes that just didn't fit any more. Some were just plain wrong on a lady of my young years. Others were just forgotten about because there was so much I could never see what was there. The bedroom smells so much better too?!?! I'm thinking of giving the inside of the wardrobe a bit of a makeover now with a lick of paint inside (it's built into the alcove).

Keep strong my fellow challengers - Rome wasn't built in a day and we won't beat the sm and retailers coercion in one week either. Always remember that at every step we take on this challenge we learn something that will help to reduce our spending. And even if over budget we're probably spending far less than when we started (I was on £600+ per month back in February for just two of us and two cats! :eek:). This thread has wonderful, supportive knowledgeable and friendly people who are alwaysd willing to lend an ear, offer advice, suggest a recipe or just send a hug when you're feeling down, so don't forget to read and post.

Ok, onward with the online order. I'll pop back later just to update my sig again.

Take care,
Spigs

Well done to you for managing food supplies not wasting and having a good clear out. We try not to wast any food here as well and its amazing how you can utilise it. I hate clearing out clothes cupboards nightmare job try and do it on a regular basis. Unfortunately I have to have various wardrobes as I have ulcerative colitis and when on steriods my weight increases then I come off try and loose it and get back down in size... I use to throw away my clothes but have learnt its easier to keep them and as I loose weight I suddenly have nice things that fit me again. I then store the bigger sizes for the inevitable striking of steriod time, though at the moment fighting to loose the weight still but colitis appears to be behaving!

It is easy to get depressed and think oh my god as yo usaid with regards to sticking to the challenges and trying to save money, I also find since joining this site and thread it is very helpful. I like peoples tips and sharing mine. I need to update my signature as my other half who is soooooo good at shoppin decided to go to lid*l on sat with his father... umm part of budget spent! plus I visited As*a friday for a birthday pressie and got a couple of bits on offer... Now beating my self up ... this month is turning in to a CHALLENGE... last month was definitely easier.... BUT I bought some frames in Asd* and our Beautiful GSD had to be put to sleep just over 8 weeks ago and I am framing photos for himself's birthday... Keep up the good work everyone.:A

TinkerTailor

Went to Sainsburys yesterday & spent £65 - bought lots of fruit & veg, packed lunch stuff, nappies, washing liquid and also lots of dried lentils etc which should last a few weeks.

Got friends coming for lunch on both Saturday & Sunday (why does it always work out that way ) so got to try and find some cheap entertaining meals & desserts. Any ideas? The lunch on Sat needs to be veggie.

Thanks,
TTx

Want2Bdebtfree_3

Hi All

I am back again just been reading the posts on value stuff and Aldi and had to comment.

We started value shopping about 6 months ago and have saved an absolute fortune, shopping gone form £100+ aweek to £50 and under a week.

The toilet rols from Aldi or Mr T are fine, I love their value conditioner its reat and I have long thick blonde highlighted hair so for me to say that.. it means something.

Aldi does get a bit confusing as to what they have and do not have but they always have the staple fruit veg and meat and it is all extremelly good value.. the snob side of me rejcted this at first! I am now hooked. Their face cream was rated higher then named expensive brands.

It is down to personal choice but I have to say Tesco value is the same in my opinion as their expensive brands for most things. On the subject of weetabix Aldi's version is the nearest I have found...

Happy shopping all